HUNDREDS of residents in a Paisley housing scheme were left fuming yesterday after being hit with a hefty £170 hike in their council tax ...caused by a blunder which took place years ago.

The Paisley Daily Express can reveal that letters have been sent to a total of 481 homes in the Foxbar area of town to tell householders that their council tax banding is wrong.

Instead of paying an annual sum of £1,211 for a band B home, the cost is going up to £1,385 for a band C home – a difference of £174.

Worried pensioners Alice and George Hill, who have lived in their two-bedroom mid-terrace home in Jarvie Way for 30 years, said they don’t know where they’ll find the extra cash.

Mrs Hill, 77, told the Express: “I had no idea they were going to raise the council tax. This just came out of the blue.

“It works out at nearly £200 extra we’ll need to pay and, when you’re on a fixed pension, it’s hard enough already.

“I guess we’ll have to do without something else.

“I feel that this is tax by stealth. They are freezing council tax rates across Renfrewshire, so is this a backdoor way to raise more money? We’ll be appealing.”

Bill Inglis, 67, suffered a similar fate back in 2008 when he was told the council tax banding for his Durrockstock Road home would be going up from a band B to a band C.

He appealed the decision but wasn’t successful.

Mr Inglis said: “I was one of 37 people whose banding went up. They told me back then that they would be looking at other houses. It’s a complete and utter shambles. I think they’ll be looking at increasing the council tax banding for the whole of Paisley next.”

Council tax bandings are evaluated by the Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board, which is separate from Renfrewshire Council.

The local authority collects all the council tax paid in Renfrewshire and uses it to fund local services.

All council tax bills include separate charges set by Scottish Water for water and sewerage services but Renfrewshire Council has no say over how much these should be.

Councillor Mark McMillan, whose Paisley South West ward includes the Foxbar area, said the increased council tax bills will be a “bombshell” for those families who are affected.

He added: “I am really concerned about this rise in council tax for almost 500 households in my constituency.

“At this time, when budgets are already tight, these increased bills are going to land like a bombshell through the letterboxes, forcing hard-pressed families into paying almost £200 extra a year which they hadn’t budgeted for.

“I would encourage everyone who is affected by this change to appeal the decision and to get in touch with me. I will assist in every way I can with those appeals in a bid to ensure that every council tax band remains the same.”

Last night, bosses at the Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board said the higher bills for the 481 Foxbar homes have been triggered by an appeal that was lodged more than a year ago.

Alasdair Mactaggart, assessor and electoral registration officer, added: “A few years ago, council tax payers in the Durrockstock area of Foxbar appealed the banding of their houses as being too high.

“We investigated and found that their houses were correct and other houses were too low.

“We dealt with those ones in the immediate area and their bands were increased. As a consequence, other houses were brought to my attention.

“It has taken until now to assess these houses and they have been found to be in the wrong band.

“To say that this is increasing tax by stealth is absolutely wrong. I’m independent of the council and the government. What I do is driven by statute or regulations and I’m obliged to put homes in the right banding. The council has no say in that.”

Mr Mactaggart said the council tax bandings had been based on house prices from 1991.

He explained: “It’s about the type of house, construction, age, number of bedrooms – all the things you’d take into account when you’re buying a house and assessing how much it’s worth.”

Anyone who appeals against the increased bills will have their case considered by an independent panel made up of volunteers.

Mr Mactaggart added: “This is not something we enjoy doing and it’s not something we do lightly. I had to be convinced by everyone else in the office that this was the right thing to do and, if there was any doubt, we would always err on the taxpayers’ side.”